Joe Johnston To Direct CAPTAIN AMERICA!!!

Beaks here...

He may not be the splashiest choice, but as far as I'm concerned, there's no one more qualified to direct CAPTAIN AMERICA than the man who gave us THE ROCKETEER. Mark it down on your calendar: Joe Johnston's FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA will storm into theaters on May 6th, 2011. It will be set during World War II, and will help set up the forthcoming AVENGERS film (along with THOR and IRON MAN 2). Here's Marvel honcho Kevin Feige on Johnston via The Hollywood Reporter:

"This is a guy who designed the vehicles for 'Star Wars,' who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' " Feige said. "From 'Rocketeer' to 'October Sky' to 'The Wolfman,' you can look at pieces of his movies and see how they lead to this one."

According to the Reporter story, Johnston has been hugging the inside track for the CAPTAIN AMERICA gig for two years. There's no screenwriter attached at the moment, but Marvel expects to hire one shortly. For more details, click here.

Update: thanks to talk backer "grandadmiralsnackbar" for finding the Nazi propaganda cartoon from THE ROCKETEER on YouTube!